345 PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH

YOUCAT Lesson 345

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

345  What are the ”Five precepts of the Church”?

(1) You shall attend Mass on Sunday and holy days of obligation and abstain from work or activities that offend against the character of the day.  (2) You shall receive the sacrament of Penance at least once a year.  (3) You shall receive the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.  (4) You shall observe the prescribed seasons of fasting and days of abstinence (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday).  (5) You shall contribute to the material support of the Church.  [2041-2043]

Distribution of the Eucharist at the Cross Plains, WI Catholic church. …..345

“Nothing may have priority over the liturgy.”  St. Benedict of Nursia (ca. 480-547)

[2042-2043]

II. THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH

2041 The precepts of the Church are set in the context of a moral life bound to and nourished by liturgical life. The obligatory character of these positive laws decreed by the pastoral authorities is meant to guarantee to the faithful the very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor: --Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2042 The first precept ("You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor") requires the faithful to sanctify the day commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord as well as the principal liturgical feasts honoring the mysteries of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the saints; in the first place, by participating in the Eucharistic celebration, in which the Christian community is gathered, and by resting from those works and activities which could impede such a sanctification of these days.( Compare Codex Iuris Canonici, cann. 1246-1248; Corpus Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium, cann. 881 § 1, § 2, § 4.)⁸² –CCC

The second precept ("You shall confess your sins at least once a year") ensures preparation for the Eucharist by the reception of the sacrament of reconciliation, which continues Baptism's work of conversion and forgiveness.( Compare Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 989; Corpus Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium, can. 719.)⁸³ –CCC

The third precept ("You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season") guarantees as a minimum the reception of the Lord's Body and Blood in connection with the Paschal feasts, the origin and center of the Christian liturgy.( Compare Codex Iuris Canonici can. 920; Corpus Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium, cann. 708; 881 § 3.)⁸⁴ --CCC

2043 The fourth precept ("You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church") ensures the times of ascesis and penance which prepare us for the liturgical feasts and help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart.( Compare Codex Iuris Canonici, cann. 1249-1251; Corpus Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium, can. 882.)⁸⁵ –CCC

The fifth precept ("You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church") means that the faithful are obliged to assist with the material needs of the Church, each according to his own ability.( Compare Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 222; Corpus Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium can. 25; Furthermore, episcopal conferences can establish other ecclesiastical precepts for their own territories (Compare Codex Iuris Canonici, can.455).⁸⁶ –CCC

The faithful also have the duty of providing for the material needs of the Church, each according to his own abilities.( Cf. Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 222)^{, 87} --CCC

344 SAVING TRUTHS OF THE FAITH

YOUCAT Lesson 344

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

344  Why does the Church also make declarations about ethical questions and about matters of personal conduct?

Believing is a path.  One learns how to stay on this path, in other words, how to act rightly and to lead a good life, only by following the instructions in the Gospel.  The teaching authority of the Church must remind people also about the demands of the natural moral law.  [2032-2040, 2049-2051]

St. Peters Basilica, Vatican, in the early morning hours. …..344

There are not two truths.  What is humanly right cannot be wrong from the Christian perspective.  And what is right according to Christianity cannot be humanly wrong.  That is why the Church must teach comprehensively about moral issues.

“Do you want to come to believe but do not know the way?  Learn from those who were tormented by doubts before you.  Imitate their way of acting, do everything that the faith requires, as though you were already a believer.  Attend Mass, use holy water, and so on.  That will no doubt make you simple and lead you to faith.”  Blaise Pascal (1588-1651)

[2032-2040, 2049-2051]

I. MORAL LIFE AND THE MAGISTERIUM OF THE CHURCH

2032 The Church, the "pillar and bulwark of the truth," "has received this solemn command of Christ from the apostles to announce the saving truth."( 1 Timothy 3:15; Lumen Gentium 17.)⁷⁴ "To the Church belongs the right always and everywhere to announce moral principles, including those pertaining to the social order, and to make judgments on any human affairs to the extent that they are required by the fundamental rights of the human person or the salvation of souls."( Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 747 § 2.)⁷⁵ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2033 The Magisterium of the Pastors of the Church in moral matters is ordinarily exercised in catechesis and preaching, with the help of the works of theologians and spiritual authors. Thus from generation to generation, under the aegis and vigilance of the pastors, the "deposit" of Christian moral teaching has been handed on, a deposit composed of a characteristic body of rules, commandments, and virtues proceeding from faith in Christ and animated by charity. Alongside the Creed and the Our Father, the basis for this catechesis has traditionally been the Decalogue which sets out the principles of moral life valid for all men. –CCC

2034 The Roman Pontiff and the bishops are "authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach the faith to the people entrusted to them, the faith to be believed and put into practice."( Lumen Gentium 25. )⁷⁶ The ordinary and universal Magisterium of the Pope and the bishops in communion with him teach the faithful the truth to believe, the charity to practice, the beatitude to hope for. –CCC

2035 The supreme degree of participation in the authority of Christ is ensured by the charism of infallibility. This infallibility extends as far as does the deposit of divine Revelation; it also extends to all those elements of doctrine, including morals, without which the saving truths of the faith cannot be preserved, explained, or observed.( Compare Lumen Gentium 25; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, declaration, Mysterium Ecclesiae 3.)⁷⁷ –CCC

2036 The authority of the Magisterium extends also to the specific precepts of the natural law, because their observance, demanded by the Creator, is necessary for salvation. In recalling the prescriptions of the natural law, the Magisterium of the Church exercises an essential part of its prophetic office of proclaiming to men what they truly are and reminding them of what they should be before God.( Compare Dignitatis Humanae 14.)⁷⁸ –CCC

2037 The law of God entrusted to the Church is taught to the faithful as the way of life and truth. The faithful therefore have the right to be instructed in the divine saving precepts that purify judgment and, with grace, heal wounded human reason.( Compare Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 213.)⁷⁹ They have the duty of observing the constitutions and decrees conveyed by the legitimate authority of the Church. Even if they concern disciplinary matters, these determinations call for docility in charity. –CCC

2038 In the work of teaching and applying Christian morality, the Church needs the dedication of pastors, the knowledge of theologians, and the contribution of all Christians and men of good will. Faith and the practice of the Gospel provide each person with an experience of life "in Christ," who enlightens him and makes him able to evaluate the divine and human realities according to the Spirit of God.( Compare 1 Corinthians 2:10-15.)⁸⁰ Thus the Holy Spirit can use the humblest to enlighten the learned and those in the highest positions. –CCC

2039 Ministries should be exercised in a spirit of fraternal service and dedication to the Church, in the name of the Lord.( Compare Romans 12:8,11.)⁸¹ At the same time the conscience of each person should avoid confining itself to individualistic considerations in its moral judgments of the person's own acts. As far as possible conscience should take account of the good of all, as expressed in the moral law, natural and revealed, and consequently in the law of the Church and in the authoritative teaching of the Magisterium on moral questions. Personal conscience and reason should not be set in opposition to the moral law or the Magisterium of the Church. –CCC

2040 Thus a true filial spirit toward the Church can develop among Christians. It is the normal flowering of the baptismal grace which has begotten us in the womb of the Church and made us members of the Body of Christ. In her motherly care, the Church grants us the mercy of God which prevails over all our sins and is especially at work in the sacrament of reconciliation. With a mother's foresight, she also lavishes on us day after day in her liturgy the nourishment of the Word and Eucharist of the Lord. –CCC

IN BRIEF

2049 The Magisterium of the Pastors of the Church in moral matters is ordinarily exercised in catechesis and preaching, on the basis of the Decalogue which states the principles of moral life valid for every man. –CCC

2050 The Roman Pontiff and the bishops, as authentic teachers, preach to the People of God the faith which is to be believed and applied in moral life. It is also incumbent on them to pronounce on moral questions that fall within the natural law and reason. –CCC

2051 The infallibility of the Magisterium of the Pastors extends to all the elements of doctrine, including moral doctrine, without which the saving truths of the faith cannot be preserved, expounded, or observed. --CCC

343 A MORAL LIFE IS SPIRITUAL WORSHIP

YOUCAT Lesson 343

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

Chapter Three—The Church

343  How does the Church help us to lead a good, responsible life?

In the Church we are baptized.  In the Church we receive the faith that the Church has preserved intact down through the centuries.  In the Church we hear the living Word of God and learn how we must live if we want to please God.  Through the sacraments that Jesus entrusted to his disciples, the Church builds us up, strengthens, and consoles us.  In the Church there is the blazing fire of the saints, by which our hearts are kindled.  In the Church the Holy Eucharist is celebrated, in which Christ’s sacrifice and strength are renewed for us in such a way that, united with him, we become his Body and live by his strength.  Despite all her human weaknesses, apart from the Church no one can be a Christian.  [2030-2031, 2047]

“I am the Queen of Heaven…Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation…Teach them their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the sacraments.  That is what I wish you to do.  Go and fear nothing, I will help you.” --Request of the Blessed Virgin Mary at a site now known as Champion, Wisconsin in an apparition to Adele Brise, a Belgium immigrant, returning home from Sunday Mass in 1859. …..343

“To love Christ is the same thing as to love the Church.”  Brother Roger Schutz (1915-2005)

“Even today the Church gives me Jesus.  That says it all.  What would I know about him, what connection would there be between him and me without the Church?”  Henry Cardinal De Lubac, S.J. (1896-1961, French theologian)

 [2030-2031, 2047]

CHAPTER THREE
GOD'S SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE 
ARTICLE 3
THE CHURCH, MOTHER AND TEACHER

2030 It is in the Church, in communion with all the baptized, that the Christian fulfills his vocation. From the Church he receives the Word of God containing the teachings of "the law of Christ."( Galatians 6:2.)⁷² From the Church he receives the grace of the sacraments that sustains him on the "way." From the Church he learns the example of holiness and recognizes its model and source in the all-holy Virgin Mary; he discerns it in the authentic witness of those who live it; he discovers it in the spiritual tradition and long history of the saints who have gone before him and whom the liturgy celebrates in the rhythms of the sanctoral cycle. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2031 The moral life is spiritual worship. We "present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,"( Romans 12:1.)⁷³ within the Body of Christ that we form and in communion with the offering of his Eucharist. In the liturgy and the celebration of the sacraments, prayer and teaching are conjoined with the grace of Christ to enlighten and nourish Christian activity. As does the whole of the Christian life, the moral life finds its source and summit in the Eucharistic sacrifice. --CCC

IN BRIEF

2047 The moral life is a spiritual worship. Christian activity finds its nourishment in the liturgy and the celebration of the sacraments. --CCC

341 GOD HAS FREELY CHOSEN TO ASSOCIATE MAN WITH THE WORK OF HIS GRACE

YOUCAT Lesson 341

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

341  Can someone earn heaven by good works?

No.  No man can gain heaven merely by his own efforts.  The fact that we are saved is God’s grace, pure and simple, which nevertheless demands the free cooperation of the individual.  [2006-2011, 2025-2027]

“Our good works ought to show the love produced by God’s action in us.”  Rhinelander has an active food pantry that has been helping the needy for the past several years.  In 2014 it distributed 500,000 pounds of food.  Here the Rhinelander Womens Club is giving a donation to the Pantry. …341

Although it is grace and faith through which we are saved, nevertheless, our good works ought to show the love produced by God’s action in us.

“Merits are gifts of God.”  St. Augustine (354-430)

[2006-2011, 2025-2027]

III. MERIT

You are glorified in the assembly of your Holy Ones, for in crowning their merits you are crowning your own gifts.( Roman Missal, Prefatio I de sanctis; Qui in Sanctorum concilio celebraris, et eorum coronando merita tua dona coronas, citing the "Doctor of grace," St. Augustine, En. In Ps. 102,7:PL 37,1321-1322.)⁵⁹ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2006 The term "merit" refers in general to the recompense owed by a community or a society for the action of one of its members, experienced either as beneficial or harmful, deserving reward or punishment. Merit is relative to the virtue of justice, in conformity with the principle of equality which governs it. –CCC

2007 With regard to God, there is no strict right to any merit on the part of man. Between God and us there is an immeasurable inequality, for we have received everything from him, our Creator. –CCC

2008 The merit of man before God in the Christian life arises from the fact that God has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace. The fatherly action of God is first on his own initiative, and then follows man's free acting through his collaboration, so that the merit of good works is to be attributed in the first place to the grace of God, then to the faithful. Man's merit, moreover, itself is due to God, for his good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and assistance given by the Holy Spirit. –CCC

2009 Filial adoption, in making us partakers by grace in the divine nature, can bestow true merit on us as a result of God's gratuitous justice. This is our right by grace, the full right of love, making us "co-heirs" with Christ and worthy of obtaining "the promised inheritance of eternal life."( Council of Trent (1547): Denzinger-Schonmetzer 1546.)⁶⁰ The merits of our good works are gifts of the divine goodness.( Compare Council of Trent (1547): DS 1548.)⁶¹ "Grace has gone before us; now we are given what is due. . . . Our merits are God's gifts."( St. Augustine, Sermo 298,4-5:PL 38,1367.)⁶² –CCC

2010 Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life. Even temporal goods like health and friendship can be merited in accordance with God's wisdom. These graces and goods are the object of Christian prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions. –CCC

2011 The charity of Christ is the source in us of all our merits before God. Grace, by uniting us to Christ in active love, ensures the supernatural quality of our acts and consequently their merit before God and before men. The saints have always had a lively awareness that their merits were pure grace. –CCC

After earth's exile, I hope to go and enjoy you in the fatherland, but I do not want to lay up merits for heaven. I want to work for your love alone. . . . In the evening of this life, I shall appear before you with empty hands, for I do not ask you, Lord, to count my works. All our justice is blemished in your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in your own justice and to receive from your love the eternal possession of yourself.( St. Thérèse of Lisieux, "Act of Offering" in Story of a Soul, tr. John Clarke (Washington DC: ICS, 1981), 277.)⁶³ –CCC

IN BRIEF

2025 We can have merit in God's sight only because of God's free plan to associate man with the work of his grace. Merit is to be ascribed in the first place to the grace of God, and secondly to man's collaboration. Man's merit is due to God. –CCC

2026 The grace of the Holy Spirit can confer true merit on us, by virtue of our adoptive filiation, and in accordance with God's gratuitous justice. Charity is the principal source of merit in us before God. –CCC

2027 No one can merit the initial grace which is at the origin of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit, we can merit for ourselves and for others all the graces needed to attain eternal life, as well as necessary temporal goods. –CCC

342 SANCTITY IS OUR PURPOSE IN LIFE

YOUCAT Lesson 342

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

342  Are we all supposed to become “saints”?

 Yes.  The purpose of our life is to be united with God in love and to correspond entirely to God’s wishes.  We should allow God “to live his life in us” (Mother Teresa).  That is what it means to be holy: a “saint”.  [2012-2016, 2028-2029]

Bishop's Youth Award recipient Anna-Marie King with Bishop Bambera of the Scranton PA diocese.  Anna-Marie is the granddaughter of my sister Carol (Bragg) Mazzarese. …..342

Every man asks himself the question: Who am I and why am I here, how do I find myself?  Faith answers: Only in holiness does man become that for which God created him.  Only in holiness does man find real harmony between himself and his Creator.  Holiness, however, is not some sort of self-made perfection; rather, it is union with the incarnate love that is Christ.  Anyone who gains life in this way finds himself and becomes holy.

“As he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written,  “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”  1 Peter 1:15-16

 “Holiness is not the luxury of a few people, but a simple duty for you and me.”  Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

[2012-2016, 2028-2029]

 IV. CHRISTIAN HOLINESS

2012 "We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him . . . For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified."( Romans 8:28-30.)⁶⁴ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2013 "All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity."( Lumen et Gentes 40 § 2.)⁶⁵ All are called to holiness: "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."( Matthew 5:48.)⁶⁶ –CCC

In order to reach this perfection the faithful should use the strength dealt out to them by Christ's gift, so that . . . doing the will of the Father in everything, they may wholeheartedly devote themselves to the glory of God and to the service of their neighbor. Thus the holiness of the People of God will grow in fruitful abundance, as is clearly shown in the history of the Church through the lives of so many saints.( Lumen et Gentes 40 § 2.)⁶⁷ --CCC

2014 Spiritual progress tends toward ever more intimate union with Christ. This union is called "mystical" because it participates in the mystery of Christ through the sacraments - "the holy mysteries" - and, in him, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. God calls us all to this intimate union with him, even if the special graces or extraordinary signs of this mystical life are granted only to some for the sake of manifesting the gratuitous gift given to all. --CCC

2015 The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle.( Compare 2 Timothy 4.)⁶⁸ Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes: --CCC

He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows.( St. Gregory of Nyssa, Hom. in

 Cant. 8:Patrologia Graeca 44,941C. )⁶⁹ –CCC

 2016 The children of our holy mother the Church rightly hope for the grace of final perseverance and the recompense of God their Father for the good works accomplished with his grace in communion with Jesus.( Compare Council of Trent (1547): DS 1576.)⁷⁰ Keeping the same rule of life, believers share the "blessed hope" of those whom the divine mercy gathers into the "holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."( Revelation 21:2.)⁷¹ --CCC

IN BRIEF

2028 "All Christians . . . are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity" (Lumen et Gentes 40 § 2). "Christian perfection has but one limit, that of having none" (St. Gregory of Nyssa, De vita Mos.:Patrologia Graeca 44, 300D). --CCC

2029 "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24). --CCC

Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Madonna and Child with the cousin John the  Baptist.

  Photo by Don C. Bragg

Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, June 24, 2017 Mass during the Day Lectionary: 587

Reading 1 IS 49:1-6

Hear me, O coastlands, listen, O distant peoples.  The LORD called me from birth, from my mother's womb he gave me my name.  He made of me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.  He made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me.  You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory.

Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the LORD, my recompense is with my God.  For now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb, that Jacob may be brought back to him and Israel gathered to him; and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD, and my God is now my strength!  It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel;  I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

Responsorial Psalm PS 139:1B-3, 13-14AB, 14C-15

R. (14) I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

O LORD, you have probed me, you know me:
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.

R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother's womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.

R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

My soul also you knew full well;
nor was my frame unknown to you
When I was made in secret,
when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth.

R. I praise you, for I am wonderfully made.

Reading 2 ACTS 13:22-26

In those days, Paul said: "God raised up David as king; of him God testified,

I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart;
he will carry out my every wish.

From this man's descendants God, according to his promise, has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.  John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel; and as John was completing his course, he would say, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he.  Behold, one is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.'

"My brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those others among you who are God-fearing, to us this word of salvation has been sent."

Alleluia SEE LK 1:76

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

You, child, will be called prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 1:57-66, 80

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her.  When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said in reply, "No. He will be called John."  But they answered her, "There is no one among your relatives who has this name."  So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.  He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name," and all were amazed.  Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God.  Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea.  All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, "What, then, will this child be?"  For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.  The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel.

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